The Bucs were absolutely dominated by the Cowboys yesterday.  Bruce Gradkowski only completed 10 of 20 passes for 120 yards and 2 INTs.  Gradkwoski also carried the ball 4 times for 17 yards.  Cadillac Williams carried the ball 17 times for 78 yards (4.6 ypc).  Mike Alstott carried the ball twice for 4 yards and a TD.  Joey Galloway had a decent game with 3 receptions for 71 yards.

The defense was absolutely horrible.  The Cowboys did whatever they wanted against the Bucs.  The Cowboys ran the ball 37 times for 137 yards (3.7 ypc).  The Cowboys also completed 22 of 29 passes for 298 net yards passing.

The Bucs are just a terrible team right now.

The Buccaneers have to feel good about winning their game last Sunday against the Redskins.  The Cowboys have won 3 of their last 4 games and are surging behind Tony Romo.

The Buccaneers will try to run the football against the Cowboys.  The Bucs ran the ball last week and they need to run well again to keep the Cowboys offense on the sideline and keep the clock running.  Cadillac Williams (619 yards rushing) will be the main weapon the Bucs use against the Cowboys defense which only allows 85.7 yards rushing and 3.6 yards per carry this season.  Look for Bruce Gradkowski to throw a few deep passes to try to take advantage of the safeties of the Cowboys, who are a little slow in helping CBs cover deep passes.  Joey Galloway (38 rec, 626 yards) will be the main threat in the passing game for the Bucs as he returns to Dallas where he started his career.

The Cowboys will look to run the ball early and then have some fun at the expense of the Bucs secondary.  Julius Jones (813 yards rushing) and Marion Barber (409 yards rushing) should have little trouble finding running room against a Bucs defense that allows 121.3 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry.  The Cowboys will no doubt take shots deep, early and often against the Bucs defense which is allowing 209.9 yards passing per game.  Terrell Owens (53 rec, 724 yards) and Terry Glenn (42 rec, 534 yards) could have huge games on Turkey Day.

I like the Cowboys big on Turkey Day.

The Bucs finally got their running game going and possessed the ball for 36:01 of the football game.  Bruce Gradkowski was very efficient running the offense as he hit 14 of 21 passes for 178 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT.  Cadillac Williams had a great game with 27 carries for 122 yards (4.5 ypc) and caught 2 passes for 34 yards.  Mike Alstott got 6 carries for 28 yards (4.7 ypc).  Michael Pittman carried the ball twice for 17 yards (8.5 ypc) and caught 2 passes for 31 yards.  Joey Galloway led the receivers with 4 grabs for 64 yards.  Anthony Becht caught 2 passes for 9 yards and a TD.

Derrick Brooks (8 tackles) and Ronde Barber (8 tackles, 1/2 sack) led the way on a fine defensive effort by the Bucs.  The Bucs held the Redskins to 64 yards rushing on 20 carries (3.2 ypc).  The Redskins completed 19 of 34 passes for 188 net yards passing.

The Bucs got a huge home win on Sunday. 

These two teams really mirror each other…and that’s not a good thing.  The Redskins have lost 4 of their last 5 games and the Bucs have lost three in a row.  Both teams start young QBs and have under-achieving defenses.

The Redskins will undoubtedly come out running the football with LeDell Betts and TJ Duckett against the soft Bucs run defense that has allowed 127.7 yards rushing per game and 4.1 yards per carry.  With Santana Moss a little gimpy, look for Jason Campbell to throw the ball to Chris Cooley alot and challenge the safeties of the Bucs.  The Bucs have allowed 212.3 net yards passing per game, so Campbell could have some success throwing the ball on Sunday but chances are that Joe Gibbs will be very conservative to try to protect Campbell’s confidence.

Look for the Bucs to try getting the Cadillac out of the garage.  Williams (497 yards rushing) is having an off-year, but the Redskins are soft against the run as they allow 114.6 yards rushing per game.  If the Bucs establish a running game, look for Bruce Gradkowski to attack the Redskins with the long ball.  Joey Galloway and Michael Clayton could have big games this weekend against a Redskins defense that allows 240.3 net yards passing and a QB rating against of 101.2 this season!

This game will go to whichever QB manages the game better.  Kind of leaning towards the home team here (Tampa Bay), because I don’t think the Redskins have much confidence in Campbell who has never been on the active roster on a Sunday (25 games).

The Bucs were winning this game 7-0 at halftime, but the Panthers kicked their butts 24-3 in the second half.  It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over 4 times in a game, and that’s exactly what the Bucs did last night.

Bruce Gradkowski completed 17 of 32 passes for 173 yards with 1 TD and 2 INT.  Gradkowski also carried the ball 5 times for 22 yards and lost a fumble.  Cadillac Williams never really got going last night as he carried the ball 15 times for 44 yards (2.9 ypc) and lost a fumble.  Joey Galloway played a good football game and caught 5 passes for 87 yards.  Ike Hilliard caught 4 passes for 30 yards and a TD.

The defense played well the first half, but the second half was quite a different story.  Ronde Barber came to play, like he always does, and had 5 tackles, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass.  The Bucs did a real good job stopping the Panthers running game as they held them to 78 yards on 30 carries (2.6 ypc).  The Panthers did pass the ball well, completing 22 of 34 passes for 240 net yards passing.

ESPN can’t be happy with this match-up on Monday Night Football.  Maybe they will be surprised and these two teams will play like they did the first time they played each other this year (26-24 Carolina win).  The Bucs are 2-3 with Gradkowski at QB, but only 2-6 overall.  The Panthers are coming off of their bye week sitting at 4-4 which has been disappointing to them. 

Look for the Bucs to try to get Cadillac Williams (453 rushing yards) going.  Williams has been a little bit of a disappointment, as has the whole offense of the Bucs.  But Williams could have a good game against a Panthers defense that allows 119.8 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry.  If the Bucs get the ground game going, look for Gradkowski to take some shots down the field to his favorite receiver Joey Galloway (29 rec, 475 yards).

The Panthers would like to run the ball more and the Bucs will probably let them as they allow 133.9 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry.  DeShaun Foster (540 yards rushing) will probably get most of the carries, but DeAngelo Williams will be back on Monday and should get some carries.  Jake Delhomme (1,730 yards passing) should have time to throw the ball and Steve Smith (45 rec, 631 yards) + Keyshawn Johnson (37 rec, 479 yards) should have good games if they catch the darn ball.

The Panthers just have too much fire-power for the Bucs to keep up with.

Rookie 6th round pick Bruce Gradkowski has played better than anyone could have expected him to after the injury to Chris Simms.  Gradkowski has completed 52.7% of his passes for 857 yards with 6 TDs and only 1 INT.  Gradkowski has a QB rating of 73.7, which isn’t too good but he’s a tough leader of the offense.  Gradkowski also has the toughness to take of running when the protection breaks done.  Gradkowski has carried the ball 18 times for 79 yards (4.4 ypc). 

Chris Simms was awful before he got injured and might never suit up as a Buc again as he is a free-agent after the season.  Simms completed 54.7% of his passes for 585 yards with 1 TD and 7 INTs!  Simms had a pitiful QB rating of 46.3. Simms led the way for the Bucs to have a poor start, and he should be elsewhere next season!

The Bucs couldn’t really get anything going on offense against the Bucs.  Bruce Gradkowski completed 18 of 31 passes for 185 yards and 2 TD passes.  Cadillac Williams never got going, carrying the ball 12 times for 39 yards (3.3 ypc).  Joey Galloway caught 4 passes for 97 yards and 2 TDs.  Michael Clayton caught 4 passes for 38 yards.  RB Michael Pittman caught 6 passes for 27 yards.

The Bucs played good run defense for once, but they couldn’t stop Drew Brees!  The Saints ran the ball 35 times for only 49 yards (1.4 ypc)!  The Saints completed 24 of 32 passes for 314 net yards. passing.  LB Derrick Brooks had a good game with 13 tackles.

 

This could be an interesting game as these teams played a great game just four weeks ago.  The Bucs had the Saints beat until Reggie Bush returned a late 4th quarter punt 65 yards for a TD.  The Saints are coming off of a tough loss in which nothing went right against the Ravens.  Even though the Bucs have won 2 of their last 3 games, rookie QB Bruce Gradkowski has gotten progressively worse in each game.

Look for the Saints to run the ball and throw deep.  They should be able to run the ball well against a Bucs run defense that is allowing 146.0 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry.  Deuce McAllister (455 yards rushing, 4.7 ypc) ran for 123 yards on 15 carries in the first match-up with the Bucs.  The Bucs LB’s had better be ready for covering Reggie Bush out of the backfield as he caught 11 passes in their first meeting.  Brees won’t be messing around with short passes to his WRs, he’s going deep!  Marques Colston (33 rec, 577 yards) and Joe Horn (30 rec, 507 yards) should have a lot of success against the weak Bucs secondary.

The Bucs should come out running the ball against the Saints.  They should give the ball to Cadillac Williams (414 yards rushing) until he gets tired and then give it to Michael Pittman, as the Saints defense allows 122.1 yards rushing per game and 4.6 yards per carry!  The Bucs need to stick to the run and keep the ball away from the Saints offense, while building confidence in their young offensive line.  Gradkowski should take some shots downfield to Joey Galloway (25 rec, 378 yards) and Michael Clayton.

If the Saints are serious players in the NFC, they will blow the Bucs out.  The thinking here is that the Bucs will give them another tough game and maybe even beat them, as they should have done in the first meeting.

Are you a basketball fan? If so you need to check out our NBA Basketball blogs. They have the same hometown feel of our NFL blogs, but are all about your favorite basketball teams.

Check out the list of blogs in the right side navigation menu to find your favorite team(s) and have a great time blogging about your favorite pro basketball team.